Author’s Note

Music has always been more than background noise to me.

It’s emotional architecture.

There are songs that feel tied to specific versions of myself, specific periods of my life, specific emotional states I don’t know how to explain outside of sound.

When I write, I usually start with music first. Not ideas. Not themes. Feeling.

I sit in silence with headphones on and let the music guide me somewhere emotionally honest.

This piece came from thinking about how deeply international my creative influences really are.

A lot of the sounds that shaped me came from places I’ve never physically been: the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Thailand.

And over time, those influences stopped feeling external. They became part of my emotional language.

Part of my rhythm. Part of my imagery. Part of how I understand myself creatively.

Also: yes, “Morning Daughters” is intentional.

It’s a poetic translation of the J-pop group Morning Musume because the translated phrasing fit the cadence of the piece better.

That felt appropriate for a poem about translation, transformation, and reshaping influence into something personal.

Because that’s ultimately what art is.

Taking in sound, emotion, memory, culture— and turning it into your own voice.

— Rowan Evans

Sound as a Vessel
Poetry by Rowan Evans

I want to take a moment
to talk about process—

the way I’ll sit
in silence,
with nothing
but the sound
from my headphones.

I sit, unmoved
and let the music
wrap around me.

I let it guide my emotion
and lead me where it may.

This is when I reach
across shores,
ignoring borders—

I reach for the sounds
that soothe me,
the sounds that move me
and make me feel.

I follow the notes
like they’re breadcrumbs—

back to the places
my body has never lived
but my heart remembers.

This is how I travel—

how I return
to the versions of myself
I haven’t met yet.

I put my headphones on
and drift away—

through different worlds,
from XG to Young Ji—
MILLI and 4EVE.

Then I drift back—
MC Sniper, Outsider
and Drunken Tiger.

It’s like I walk
through time,
using sound
as the vessel.

Then I hit Japan,
Morning Daughters
surround me.
Up next THE GAZETTE,
then Hamasaki Ayumi. (Queen!)

These are the sounds
that shaped my DNA.

Eminem lit the fire,
Ez Mil made it brighter.

I broke teeth
on Lee Hyori. (Queen!)

And I’ve expanded,
put more colors
on the canvas.

More lines
in my rhymes.

BINI, SB
19 and G22
Hev Abi, Skusta Clee,
Sarah Geronimo too—

just to change the shape
of the soundscape.

I use sound like paint
to make pictures,
mix it with my emotions
to find the perfect hue.

Journey into the Hexverse…

[Just Knowing You Has Been Enough]
“Just Knowing You Has Been Enough” is a deeply vulnerable free verse poem about unspoken love, emotional fear, coded confessions, and the quiet truth of caring for someone without needing perfection in return.

[The Streets I Walk When I Sleep]
“The Streets I Walk When I Sleep” is a deeply intimate free verse poem about recurring dreams, emotional connection, longing across distance, and the strange feeling of remembering places and moments that have never happened in waking life.

[Memories From a Life Yet to Come]
Some dreams feel less like fantasy and more like memory. “Memories From a Life Yet to Come” is a reflective free verse poem about longing, displacement, emotional alignment, and the strange comfort of recognizing yourself more clearly in dreams than in waking life

[Separate Timelines]
“Separate Timelines” is a surreal and deeply introspective free verse poem about emotional distance, time zones, vulnerability, and the fear of losing a connection that already feels meaningful before the words are ever spoken aloud.

If you’re interested in more poetry, you can find it here → [The Library of Ashes]